by Vivianne Khouri
A Collaboration between Lola and Vivi
I never want to fall
In love because
I know I won’t have my best interests
At heart.
Instead, I want a marriage panel
To round up a heard of swarthy young men
To divine my value in bovine…
To arithmetize who will make the finest sugar daddy
Through fairy-tale style tests of bravery, strength and seduction.
Who can grow an olive tree from a seed
And press the most oil?
Or coax the spiciest radishes from the earth?
Supply never ending burlap sacks of
Coffee beans, cacao nibs and rice?
Love trees and tomato plants well enough
For there to be dinner on my plate.
Select lotus blossoms, daffodils and chrysanthemums.
Cinnamon sticks and cardamom pods
Make the sweetest potpourri-
Grow the kind of soil
A girl could handle under polished fingernails
Pick out the perfect spot in the
South of France for wine and chèvre picnics
Provide jade bangles and yellow and purple silk saris
Write strawberry and champagne flavored poems
He should have mastered kitchen wizardry,
word voodoo, and have only one left foot.
He. Must. Dance.
The tango the salsa the rumba the swing-
If he can spin me so my skirt flares out
And end it with a dip but not a concussion,
Fill my kitchen with milk and honey
And I don’t have to kick him out,
Then we can put the lonesome on the shelf.